Kentucky military women applaud combat opportunity

Say combat roles bring new choices, will help careers

4:10 AM,
Jan. 27, 2013

Pfc. Janelle Zalkovsky of the Civil Affairs Unit, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne provides security while other Soldiers survey a newly constructed road in Ibriam Jaffes, Iraq, Dec. 4, 2005. The road project was initiated by the Civil Affairs Unit and cooperation with local officials to provide better access to the village from other main travel routes.(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Charles W. Gill) (Released)

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Serving with a sustainment brigade from Fort Campbell, Ky., Army Capt. Heidi Miller did tours in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, where women protected convoys, cleared roadside bombs and searched women in remote villages.

It's why Miller, 27, is among scores of military women who are cheering Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's decision to lift a prohibition on women serving in combat units, saying the change largely is "an acknowledgment of what's already happening."

The decision, they say, erases a longstanding inequality and recognizes that women are capable of serving in a fighting ...